scholarly journals DETERMINANTS OF REAL EXCHANGE RATE IN ETHIOPIA

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 183-210
Author(s):  
Nandeeswara Rao ◽  
TassewDufera Tolcha

Real exchange rate has direct effects on trade particularly on international trade and has indirect effects on productions and employments, so it is crucial to understand the factors which determine its variations. This study analyses the main determinants of the real exchange rate and the dynamic adjustment of the real exchange rate following shocks to those determinants using yearly Ethiopian time series data covering the period 1971 to 2010. It begins with a review of literatures on Exchange rate, real exchange rate, determinants of the real exchange rate and provides an updated background on the exchange rate system in Ethiopia. An empirical model linking the real exchange rate to its theoretical determinants is then specified. This study had employed the cointegration and vector autoregression (VAR) analysis with impulse response and variance decomposition analyses to provide robust long run effects and short run dynamic effects on the real exchange rate. Share of investment, foreign exchange reserve, capital inflow and government consumption of non-tradable goods were the variable that have been found to have a long run relationship with the real exchange rate. The estimate of the speed of adjustment coefficient found in this study indicates that about a third of the variation in the real exchange rate from its equilibrium level is corrected within a year. The regression result of VECM reveals that terms of trade, nominal exchange rate, and one period lag of capital flow were the variables significantly affects the real exchange rate in the short run. However, the impulse response and variance decomposition analysis shows a better picture of the short run dynamics. The their analysis provided evidence that the Shocks to terms of trade, nominal exchange rate, capital inflow and share of investment have persistent effects on the real exchange rate in the short run. In general the regression results of both long run and short run models mostly suggest that the fluctuations of real exchange rates are predominantly responses to monetary policies shocks rather than fiscal policy shocks.

1999 ◽  
Vol 169 ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith B. Church

This article calculates the equilibrium real exchange rate for the UK economy. The long-run trade and supply side relationships from HM Treasury's model are used to estimate the level of the real exchange rate consistent with the UK economy growing at its ‘natural’ rate while achieving a sustainable current account position. The model shows that the real exchange rate associated with macroeconomic equilibrium lies well below the actual rate for most of the 1990s. This result has important implications for possible UK participation in the single European currency as, once the nominal exchange rate is fixed, overvaluation can only be corrected by holding UK inflation lower than that elsewhere. Achieving this may be costly in terms of jobs and output.


Author(s):  
Menzie D. Chinn

The idea that prices and exchange rates adjust so as to equalize the common-currency price of identical bundles of goods—purchasing power parity (PPP)—is a topic of central importance in international finance. If PPP holds continuously, then nominal exchange rate changes do not influence trade flows. If PPP does not hold in the short run, but does in the long run, then monetary factors can affect the real exchange rate only temporarily. Substantial evidence has accumulated—with the advent of new statistical tests, alternative data sets, and longer spans of data—that purchasing power parity does not typically hold in the short run. One reason why PPP doesn’t hold in the short run might be due to sticky prices, in combination with other factors, such as trade barriers. The evidence is mixed for the longer run. Variations in the real exchange rate in the longer run can also be driven by shocks to demand, arising from changes in government spending, the terms of trade, as well as wealth and debt stocks. At time horizon of decades, trend movements in the real exchange rate—that is, systematically trending deviations in PPP—could be due to the presence of nontraded goods, combined with real factors such as differentials in productivity growth. The well-known positive association between the price level and income levels—also known as the “Penn Effect”—is consistent with this channel. Whether PPP holds then depends on the time period, the time horizon, and the currencies examined.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Njindan Iyke ◽  
Nicholas M. Odhiambo

In this paper, we identify the fundamental determinants of the long-run exchange rate in South Africa. We then estimate the equilibrium real exchange rate for this country using a dataset covering the period 1975–2012. In order to account for possible short-run fluctuations in the real exchange rate, we conducted a cointegration test using the ARDL bounds testing procedure. First, we found terms of trade, trade openness, government consumption, net foreign assets and real commodity prices to be the long-run determinants of the real exchange rate in South Africa. Second, we found that nearly 68.06% of the real exchange-rate disequilibrium is corrected annually. Overall, the estimated equilibrium rate indicates that the Rand has been depreciating in real terms over the years. Tightening trade openness is not an option, given international agreements; on the other hand, terms of trade and real commodity prices are determined by the world market. The obvious policy alternative is for South Africa to increase government spending and moderately decrease her net foreign asset position.


Economies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ojonugwa Usman ◽  
Osama Elsalih

This paper attempts to test the pass-through of the real exchange rate (RERT) to unemployment in Brazil over the period 1981M1–2015M11 using linear and nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models. The result of the linearity test suggests that the relationship between RERT and unemployment is linear in the short-run and nonlinear in the long-run. Therefore, using the symmetric ARDL model for the short-run analysis, we find that an increase in the RERT decreases the unemployment rate. The result of the nonlinear ARDL for the long-run analysis shows that the unemployment rate reacts to the RERT appreciations and depreciations differently with depreciations having a strong effect. However, the pass-through of the RERT to unemployment is incomplete both in the short- and long-run. These findings have important policy implications for the designing of appropriate monetary policy in response to a rise in unemployment resulting from a change in the real exchange rate.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zelealem Yiheyis ◽  
Jacob Musila

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the temporal relationships between inflation and exchange rate changes and their implications for the trade balance in Uganda, which saw persistent trade deficits, rising inflation and disinflation episodes, as well as significant exchange-rate realignments and other liberalization measures over the sample period considered. Design/methodology/approach The short-run dynamics of the variables in question and the pattern of their long-run relationships are examined applying the bounds testing approach to cointegration on quarterly data. Findings The estimates suggest that, in the long run, a real depreciation leads to an increase in inflation; and that both real depreciation and inflation exert no significant effect on the trade balance. The estimated short-run dynamics suggest a causal relationship between the trade balance and the real exchange rate and between the real exchange rate and inflation, which is also found responsive to developments in the foreign sector. Taken together, the short-run and long-run multipliers seem to provide a weak support for the J-curve effect, while no evidence is found for the presence of the S-curve effect. Originality/value The study sheds light on the relationship among real exchange rate, inflation and the trade balance in the context of a small developing economy; it highlights that an improvement in the trade balance requires more than an appropriate exchange rate policy and underscores the importance of other policies in strengthening the external sector of the economy.


2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ali Kemal ◽  
Usman Qadir

The exchange rate exerts a strong influence on a country’s trade. It is depicted from the high correlation between the real exchange rate and exports (0.90) and that between the real exchange rate and imports (0.88). In the present-day scenario of falling levels of tariff and a reduced number of non-tariff barriers, the exchange rate has assumed a crucial role in influencing the trade deficit. Imports have a very significant association with exports as shown by the correlation between exports and imports (0.97). The increase in exports in the absence of surplus stocks requires an increase in production, which in turn requires capital and raw material. We analysed the long-run relationship and the short-run dynamics among the three variables. It is concluded that there exists a long-run relationship between real exchange rate, exports, and imports; and real exchange rate is negatively associated with the exports and positively associated with the imports. In the short-run, imports and exports adjust towards their equilibrium when there is disequilibrium. But the adjustment in the imports is greater than the adjustment in the exports. Moreover, exports do not respond to the shock caused by the real exchange rate, but imports respond to the sudden shock in the real exchange rate. The study ends up with the note that the sudden movements in the real exchange rate do not affect exports. Therefore, Pakistan should not worry about exchange rate shocks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2(J)) ◽  
pp. 34-56
Author(s):  
Pabai Fofanah

The regression and the vector autoregressive VAR models have been employed in this analysis. I use the autodistributed lag regression model to estimate both the short and the long-run impacts. In the VAR model, orthogonalized impulse response functions are employed to estimate the short-run. The regression result shows that while depreciation of the RER increases aggregate cocoa and coffee exports AGX in the current year, this variable is not significant in determining AGX in Sierra Leone. This is due to the fact that AGX have long gestation periods and until this period is over, suppliers cannot actually raise their output and hence exports. The negative effect of the one period lag of RER variable on AGX can be attributed to the fact that in the long run, depreciation in the nominal exchange rate leads to real exchange rate depreciation. This will lead to increase in cost of imported farming inputs in domestic currency terms. The reduction in imports that follows decreases the output and hence cocoa and coffee exports. However, this variable is not significant in determining AGX in Sierra Leone. An increase in the orthogonalized shock to the first difference of log RER causes a short series of increases in first difference of log AGX followed by a decrease, followed by an increase that dies out after four periods. The null hypothesis that the lag of first difference of log RER does not Granger-cause the lag of first difference of AGX cannot be rejected. The paper concluded that in the short and long-run, the RER should not be taken as policy variable to influence AGX in Sierra Leone.


Author(s):  
Khamis Khalid Said ◽  
Eliab Luvanda ◽  
Estomih S Massawe

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between stationary time series for the impact of real exchange rate on output growth and inflation in Tanzania: Zanzibar using vector autoregressive (VAR) model. The impact of the real exchange rate on economic performance in Tanzania using VAR approach shows that the main sources of variance decomposition in the volume of tourism and inflation are in their own shocks. Impulse response functions analysis show that the response generated by itself at short run and vanishing at the long run, and the inflation and number of tourism has no instantaneous impact on the first difference of real exchange rate. Variance decomposition analysis show that the impact of number of tourism arrival on real exchange rate increases monotonically to the long-run. Thus analysis show that 98 percent of the variance of number of tourism arrival is generated by its own innovations, while only 87 percent of the variance of inflation is generated by its own innovations and about 99 percent of the variance of real exchange rate generated by its own innovations. Furthermore; the real exchange rate is Granger causal to both inflation and number of tourism, while the number of tourism is Granger Causal to the inflation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-94
Author(s):  
Natasha Ahmetaj ◽  
Merita Bejtja

Problem/Relevance: Investigation of exchange rate behaviour has been an important topic in international monetary economics because of the impact of exchange rates on economies. One strand of the literature has focused on explaining the observed movement of the nominal or real exchange rate in terms of macroeconomic variables. Another strand of the literature has evaluated the behaviour of the real exchange rates in relation to the equilibrium exchange rate, which is the real exchange rate that is consistent with macroeconomic balances. Albania implements a free floating exchange rate regime; therefore, evaluating whether the actual real exchange rate is too strong or too weak compared with the real equilibrium exchanges rate has great relevance for the Albanian economy. Research Objective/Questions: Generally, the real exchange rate is defined as the nominal exchange rate adjusted for the relative price differential between domestic and foreign goods and services. So, an appreciation of the nominal exchange rate or higher inflation at home relative to other countries may lead to an appreciation of the real exchange rate. Such appreciation weakens the competitiveness of a country, widens the current account deficit and increases vulnerability to financial crises. The opposite holds true when the real exchange rate depreciates. The aim of this paper is, first, to estimate the equilibrium real exchange rate for the Albanian currency against the euro and, second, to assess the total exchange rate misalignment during the period of 2001Q1-2017Q1. Thus, the equilibrium real exchange rate is used as a benchmark for evaluating the misalignment of the actual real exchange rate. Methodology: This paper explores the determinants of the real exchange rate for Albania, during the period of 2001Q1-2017Q1, based on the stock-flow approach, the so called Behavioural Equilibrium Exchange Rate (BEER), which effectively employs reduced-form modelling of the exchange rate based on standard co-integration techniques. The stock of net foreign assets and productivity changes has been considered fundamental for the real exchange rate. We have used the Johansen co integration technique to test the existence of long-run relationships between our main variables and to evaluate the path of the equilibrium real exchange rate based on vector error correction model (VECM) results. Then the analysis is completed by calculating the degree of misalignment as the difference between the actual real exchange rate and the equilibrium real exchange rate. Major Findings: Based on the Johansen co-integration approach, we find one long-run relationship between the real exchange rate of the Albanian lek against the euro, relative productivity and net foreign assets during the period of 2001Q1 to 2017Q1. The model implies that the real exchange rate is affected, as we expected, by relative productivity and net foreign assets, confirming that an increase in both variables leads to an appreciation of the real exchange rate in the long run. Our results show that the behaviour of the actual real exchange rate is similar to the path of the equilibrium exchange rate and that the degree of misalignment throughout the period is estimated to be moderate. Implications: Our empirical results confirm that the degree of misalignment is reasonable, suggesting a consistency between macroeconomic (especially monetary) policies and the free floating exchange rate regime. Assessing real exchange rate misalignment is a very important issue for policy makers because of the severe welfare and efficiency costs that such misalignment can have for an economy.


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